To:G. Y. SOKOLNIKOV

Written:Written on January 22, 1922Published:First published in 1959 inLenin Miscellany XXXVI.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1976,

      Moscow,Volume 45,

      pages444b-446a.Translated:Yuri SdobnikovTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet ArchiveYou may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

Sunday, 22/I.

ComradeSokolnikov:

Concerningyour letter of
18/I.[2]

AboutBasha and the State Depository of Valuables. I
very much fear that you have been carried away here by
the apparent “harmony” of the reorganisation plans.
Basha, who had been recommended to me by reliable men,
and who hasprovedhis ability to safekeep, can (I felt)
only safekeep, safeguard and no more. That is enough. That
is a great deal. Under Trotsky’s general supervision and
pressure, let them safekeep, safeguard, fight stealing and
realise. That is enough. That is very much.

Whythen “reorganise Gokhran”? Why reorganise it into
a “gold—currency—administration”?

Ivery much fear that reorganisation will be the death
of us, without bringing any of the practical jobs to
completion.

LetTrotsky and Basha carry out the State Depository
of Valuables job to the end: which is to collect, to
safeguard and to realise.

Thecurrency administration must be separate. It was
in Litvinov’s charge. There is some mix-up between him
and Krasin—the most painful question which caused a
Politbureau decision a few days
ago.[3]

Atall costs this mix-up should be eliminated and their
(Litvinov’s and Krasin’s) work made concertedswiftly,
immediately.

IfLitvinovisunable to devote himself entirely to this
(because of the diplomacy), and if (you) intend to have
Krasnoshchekov head the currency administration, why not
bring this up before the Politbureau: the State Depository
of Valuables—safekeeps, collects and assigns for
realisation; Krasnoshchekov—currency administration (instead
of Litvinov or together with Litvinov?)?

Iam in mortal fear of reorganisations. We are always
reorganising things, instead^ of getting on with the
practical business. You will do well to bear my words in mind:
if the Commissariat for Finance does have a bitter enemy,
it is the overdoing of reorganisation, and the underdoing
of thepracticalbusiness.

Icannot agree with you that the restructuring of our
budget is at the centre of our work. Trade and restoration
of the ruble is at the centre.

Itis true (as you write) that Larin is “undoubtedly”
the “father” of the monstrous confusion of the budget. It
is also true that Preobrazhensky is the second guilty one.
And what about O. Y. Schmidt? He has not got
Preobrazhensky’s excuses! This O. Y. Schmidt should be removed.
He is a most harmful fumbler, and is the more dangerous
because he fumbles with “pomposity” and is
“superklug”[1]....

Ithink you should not engage in “restructuring” on the
question of the budget: hand nine-tenths of it to the State
Planning Commission and reduce all this topractical,prudentamendments. Otherwise, the “restructuring” will
run away with you, and in any case it isimpossiblejust
now, right away, to have a tolerable budget, and we shall
perish because of the collapse of the monetary system,
scattering our attention on tasks which are not feasible
just now.

Atthe centre of everything just now is trade, first,
domestic, and then, foreign trade; in connection with trade
and on the basis of trade—a restoration of the ruble.

Allattention should be concentrated on this. The
important, the most important, the basic task is to make
apracticalstart on this.

Developmentof trade, organisation of the State Bank’s
trade department, to have itmovingthe wholeof trade,
instead of sleeping—is the main thing.

WhatI mortally fear is that you, nowactually in chargeof themost importantPeople’s Commissariat, will be
carried away with restructuring, reorganisation, and the
theoretical line (you do have a weakness on this score)—
instead of practice, practice and practice: raising trade,increasingandcollecting taxes, restoring the ruble. Really
and truly I am in mortal fear of this; do not succumb to
this weakness, otherwise we shall collapse. Go on
promoting Krasnoshchekov: he appears to be a practitioner.

Withcommunist greetings,Lenin

[1]“tooclever”.—Ed.

[2]Inthe letter here mentioned, G. Y. Sokolnikov argued the need      

to reorganise Gokhran (the State Depository of Valuables of the     

R.S.F.S.R.) into a Currency Administration. With this in mind,      

he suggested the appointment as its head an executive of greater    

stature than the head of Gokhran, N. A. Basha. Sokolnikov           

also dealt with various aspects of restructuring the budget.

[3]Areference to the Politbureau of the R.C.P.(B.) C.C. decision       

of January 20, 1922, on the delay in the purchase of food abroad.